Foot guard



Sept. 23, 1930. C. P. AGER Er AL 1,776.532

FOOT GUARD Filed Nov.A 13, 1929 Hc/o/ b E awmer i f2-2 in Fig. 1, they section of one such foot view from being caught yPatented Sept. 23, 1930 UNITED STATES v"PAIIIEIIT OFFICE fcLARENcE I. AGERAND ARCHIE nrRos'r,l lor TAcoMAWAsHINGToN, AND AnoLrH n Y I. nnivnvrnngor MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA roozr.` GUARD 'placed in railway switches andfrogs, and has -for its objects to provide a metal guard which is easily secured in place; which maybe reirmoved therefrom without interfering with i the rails; whichrequires a shorter bolt; in

devices and arrangements illustrated inthe' accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. l is aplan view Vof a railway frog, i showing threepairs of foot guardsmounted therein 5F ig. 2 is a section thereof on the line guard being taken at the fastening bolt; Fig. 8 is a similar section showing the guard being placed in position; and F ig. 4 isa rear of the guard removed from the rail. y

A Similar numerals of reference refer to similar parts.throughout the several views.

As is well known, a foot guard is providedy for the purpose of preventing a persons footy between two rails when their heads vare close together,` beingseparated by a distance offrom about three to five inches, as required by the Interstate Comv merce Commission. These guards lhave usually been constructed of wood, and when so made, they do not last long and are difficult x to replace because the rails are close together and the bolt passes entirely through them and extends laterally therefrom. vAlsothey are apt to loosen by the wear of the `bolt heads in the wood and, therefore, require conl f sta-nt inspectiontosee that the bolts are kept tight.

p As seen' by the drawings, our guard con- 40, sists of a flat unbroken front platel, extending in a straight line from the lower corner of the rail head 2 to the upper corner of the rail base 3. A back plate 4 is xedly secured to the inner side of-saidfront plate 1,' preferably by welding, said plate 4 being secured thereto at a point slightly below the upper edge of the .mainV or front plate 1. This kback plate 4 extends inward under the rail head 2, and is then bent downward at 5 to lie in contact with the web 6 ofthe rail. This back This invention relates to footguards to bev Application ined November 13,1929. serial N6; 403,864.

plate 4 is providedat suitable intervals, with rectangular slots '7 extending up from its vlower edge toa point adjacent to 'its bend 5. VThese slots 7 are positioned in accordance with the standard spacing adopted by the railroad fory the carriage bolts used in fasten-k ing the ordinary wooden foot guard in place. One of the advantages of our foot guard is that kthe carriage bolt used may be substantially shorter than that needed for the wooden foot guard. The carriage bolt 8 has, of course, a square neck which is adapted to fit in the slot 7 formed in the back plate 4 of the foot guard, thus preventing the bolt 8 from turning when the nut 9 is screwed on its end.

. As shown in Fig. 3, it is clear that, when this foot guard isbcing placed in position, the carriage `bolts 8 are first inserted through the holes l0 in the rail web 6 and the vnuts 9 and washers 1l are screwed a short distance only thereon. Then the `foot guard may be passed downward between the rail heads 2, in a substantially vertical position, until the back plate 4 thereof engages the heads of the bolts 8 in its slots 7. At this point, the bend 5 in thek back plate 4 passes the lower corner of the rail head 2, and the foot guard may then be easily slipped into position, as shown in Fig. 2, after which the nuts 9 on the carriage bolts 8 may be tightened up, drawing the back plate 4 and the foot guard plate l tightly into position. i

It is, ot' course, to be understood that the above-described foot guard may be varied within the terms of the appended claims, for instance, the back plate 4 may be made lintegral with the front plate l. However, the above-described form of our invention is that which we have preferred. y i

Having, therefore, described our invention, what we claim is l. ,A railroad foot guard comprising a front plate extending between the rail head and the rail base; a back plate extending inward therefrom to the rail web and bent downward to lie against the rail web; slots formed in said back plate, extending upward from its lower edge towards the bend therein; and square`r necked bolts passing through the rail web,

having an unbroken surface and` plate7 whereby the foot guard may be slipped` downward past thek rail head into engage.

nient with said bolts when the bolts 'are loosened and drawn and heldV infposition therein; 'fand Square-necked bolts` passing V,through the rail web and lying in said slots,

the heads of said bolts adapted to engage the when the bolts are ,tighteifled.vv

2. Av railroad i'oot guard comprising aYV d rontvplatehaving an unbroken surface and extending'. betweerik .the `rail hea d a-rd''the r-ail! base; a back plate xedly secured thereto .at

a point below the upper edge thereof and eX- tending inward therefrom to the rail web; slots formed 1n said. back plate,' extend1ng upward from its lower edge towards the'bend front side of said back pla-te, whereby the jl'oot guard may be slipped downwerdpast the rail head into engagement Withlsaid bolts 'when the bolts are loosenedand' drawn and Y held in position when the bolts are tightened. Y Y `CLARENCE P. ALGER. l

' ARCHES L. FROST.

VADOLPH P. DEMMEB- A L Y 

